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5 Deadly Viruses that Took Humanity By Complete Surprise!

Thanks to the coronavirus, the world is
freaking out. The truth is, these epidemics take us by surprise. No one knows
how they work, and they take time to cure.

The good news is, the coronavirus is not
the worst virus we’ve ever experienced. And in all likelihood, it will clear up
in a few months.

In the meantime, I thought it would be
interesting to write about some of the other major viruses that have taking humanity
by surprise. I hope you find it as interesting as I did!

The Ebola Virus

In February of 2014, the Ebola virus was in
all the headlines. Due to the exotic nature of this disease, it was one of the
scariest epidemics the world has ever seen. The initial symptoms were fever,
body aches comma and diarrhea. But as the virus spread throughout the body, it
dealt significant damage to the immune system and organs.

In the final days of the virus, patients
would suffer from severe, uncontrollable bleeding. What made this virus so
scary, was the enormous death rate.

To put it into perspective, right now
experts believe the coronavirus has around a 2% death rate. And because we
don’t know how many minor cases there are, the reality is the death rate is probably
quite a bit lower than that. Which means most people who get the coronavirus
will survive. Ebola, on the other hand, originally had a near 100% death rate.
Fortunately, we’ve learned a lot about the disease since 2014 comma and we can
now treat it very effectively.

The Ebola virus did not
end up spreading to developed countries as experts initially feared. And I
think we can all be thankful for that!

The Rabies Virus

The rabies virus is incredibly rare. Yet it
remains one of these scariest viruses. Why? well, for starters, there is no
cure. There’s a vaccine you can get if you believe you have it. If you get this
vaccine in time it will prevent it. The problem is, rabies may show zero
symptoms for anywhere from 6 months to a year after you contracted it. and by
the time you show symptoms, it’s already too late.

Rabies is contracted from being bit by an
animal who also has the disease. Because of how serious this virus is, it is so
important to get your rabies shots if an animal bite has broken your skin.
Thankfully, in developed countries rabies is very, very rare.

The HIV Virus

The HIV virus is one of the most famous
viruses of all time. When people first started getting infected in the late
80s, no one knew why. Unlike diseases like the cold and flu, it was initially
impossible to figure out who you got it from. Scientists also had no idea how
it spread. They didn’t know if it was airborne, required physical contact, or
really anything else.

In addition, HIV is another virus that can
take anywhere from 6 months to a year to start showing symptoms. Today, we have
amazing treatments for patients with HIV. It’s no longer the death sentence it
once was. And some experts say it could be completely eradicated from the USA
just 10 years from now. Although the virus has been absolutely horrific, it has
led to some of the most effective antiviral treatments we have.

The Dengue Virus

The dengue virus is a virus that affects
poor, impoverished countries, much more than wealthy ones. First of all, this
disease is spread by mosquitoes. In the United States and other developed
countries, most mosquitoes are not carrying dengue. If you did happen to get
it, with proper medical treatment, it’s mainly just a severe flu.

Yet if you live in an area without medical
treatment comma the dengue virus has a mortality rate of 20%. The most common
symptom is a severe fever, leading to the name dengue fever.

The Polio Virus

The polio virus represents one of the most
frightening time periods in world history. Because of how the disease infects
the spinal chord, leading to paralysis, it was an incredibly scary disease to
be around for. Additionally, it would often infect children, who had their
entire lives ahead of them.

That being said, 72 out of 100 people who contracted
the polio virus showed no symptoms. So actual paralysis and death was rare. And
even in those who did become paralyzed, most survived. Still, the idea of
getting the disease caused mass spread panic.

Ironically, it’s believed that the better
hygiene in the early 1900s actually led to the spread of this disease. Because
if a child got polio very young, they still had help from their mother’s immune
system comma and could easily defeat the disease, granting them immunity for
life. Because of improved hygiene, children ended up getting the disease much
later. Without the support of their mother’s immune system, it turned into a
much bigger problem.

In Conclusion

Viruses are something we still deal with in
our day-to-day lives today. Thankfully, medical advances have made it so the
majority of us never need to worry about it. Although new viruses still happen,
they lead to new developments that make us even safer. Who knows, in the future
maybe our children won’t even know what the word virus means.